This report presents the Canadian Food Strategy, a comprehensive, action-oriented framework developed by The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Food in Canada to guide and stimulate change in food and the food system in Canada.

Document Highlights

Food powerfully affects the economy, jobs, lifestyles, health and well-being, communities, and the environment. Yet, the lack of a shared national vision means that the opportunities and challenges of food have not been addressed fully in Canada.

The Canadian Food Strategy is a comprehensive, action-oriented framework developed to guide and stimulate change in food and the food system and achieve the advances Canadians want. It frames the problems and challenges and offers a broad-ranging set of goals and desired outcomes that, we believe, will greatly alter our food system for the better. Structured like a pyramid, the Strategy moves downwards from elements and strategic challenges to broad goals and desired outcomes; action strategies associated with each desired outcome; and a range of specific actions that stakeholders can take.

This report concludes by presenting three initiatives that the Centre for Food in Canada will undertake to continue its work on promoting the Canadian Food Strategy.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1—Overview

Why a Canadian Food Strategy?

Structure of the Strategy

Chapter 2—Canadian Food Strategy—Five Elements

Element: Industry Prosperity

Element: Healthy Food

Element: Food Safety

Element: Household Food Security

Element: Environmental Sustainability

Chapter 3—Canadian Food Strategy—8 Goals

Element: Industry Prosperity

Element: Healthy Food

Element: Food Safety

Element: Household Food Security

Element: Environmental Sustainability

Chapter 4—Implementation

Implementation Roles for Key Stakeholders

Making Change Happen

Learning From Best Practices

Chapter 5—Guide to Action Tool

Chapter 6—Conclusion and Next Steps

Encouraging Implementation and Tracking Progress

Appendix A—Centre for Food in Canada Reports Used in Preparing the Canadian Food Strategy

Reviews

A very informative report on the steps necessary to make Canada more of a food secure Country as a whole, and the institutions that are required to take part in this strategy for this achievement. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

This Strategy piece takes a reasonable approach towards goal setting that accepts that industry must be a focus and a partner in attaining human and environmental goals. It does not address the residual benefits of food security, this is reasonable given the robust literature on the topic as well as the fact that those benefits are not the focus of the piece. Everything has its limits and this piece performs well given it's focus.

Agree with L. McDonald, but I take a more pessimistic view. The Food Strategy, focused primarily on economic gains, fails to address the social issues surrounding food security, and the goal objectives addressing food security are only grossly general statements.

From a purely economic standpoint, however, the report is a typical, and obsolete, business-centric model that fails to incorporate the research-backed holistic economic benefits to improving domestic food security (in terms of health care, education, etc.).

Maybe too critical but given that this is the CANADIAN FOOD STRATEGY, it should take into account all aspects of the Canadian food system.

There's some good stuff in here, to be sure, but I find it disappointing that so much attention is given, especially in the implementation section, to supporting industry, and so little to environmental and food security concerns – and also that so much responsibility is placed on individuals to drive change, when the problems are systemic and largely driven by industry to begin with.

Alternatives Journal has a full review here: http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/mouthful/new-canadian-food-strategy-lacks-potential-real-change

Thanks for the comprehensive report. I focused on the Food Safety, which is one of the five key elements in this report. I think the current modernization of the food safety regulations in Canada as per the Safe Food for Canadians Act have not been addressed in the report.